Limewire

[Gareth]

Can anyone fill me in on the laws of music downloads?

Basically Limewire is as illegal as it comes, as with torrenting copyrighted material and any other peer to peer that transfers copyrighted music to your pc for free without consent of the owner of the copyright. People justify this with such claims as "Cd prices are ripoff" and "Its only a few songs now and then". Regardless of these claims, these actions are utterly illegal and you can be prosecuted.

Such websites such as some Russian download sites like allofmp3 or whatever it calls, somewhat confused people by the fact its legal to operate in Russia. This is due to archic copyright laws and media laws but rest assured such sites and downloading from them when in Ireland is still very much illegal as copyright of the music in this country is under different laws to Russia.

So basically if you use Limewire or such apps, you should be prosecuted for illegal music downloads and movie downloads. Its just like saying that I cant afford that pair of trousers, and jeez the trouser company is ripping me off cos its too expensive so you go out and nick them under the guise of , sure they make enough money already.

I do agree with the concept of sampling albums and music first before PURCHASE but downloading music and movies directly for free is utterly wrong. Plus Limewire is very much a trojan horse nirvana...

[EnDai]

I may be wrong here, but this is my understanding...

In Ireland, thanks to our extremely old computing laws, downloading material does not violate any Irish laws (it violates American laws, but we are not in America). Making this material available to others, however, does. My understanding is that you may download what you wish, once you do not allow it to be uploaded (by other people) from your own computer.

[Gareth]

Endai, most people using peer to peer I have noticed fail to turn off file sharing and as a result contravene the laws you quote....

[EnDai]

Aye, tis true. They can disable it easily though, and stay on the right side of our silly laws

Pity it doesn't work so well with torrenting!

[NJTom]

If I download albums and or songs I already own on vinyl, what's wrong with that? Why should I pay to own the same piece of music twice? I don't have the capability to transfer my old albums to cd or mp3 files so I see nothing wrong with using a p2p program to get music I already have, albeit in a different form.

[jorge]

Its just like saying that I cant afford that pair of trousers, and jeez the trouser company is ripping me off cos its too expensive so you go out and nick them under the guise of , sure they make enough money already.

Its just not the same.Its hard to explain but its just not the same.

[Gareth]

If I download albums and or songs I already own on vinyl, what's wrong with that? Why should I pay to own the same piece of music twice? I don't have the capability to transfer my old albums to cd or mp3 files so I see nothing wrong with using a p2p program to get music I already have, albeit in a different form.

Well I have no problem with that and I am sure you can not be prosecuted if you have bought the material once and have proof of purchase (i.e. the vinyl etc). I have cds of music and I have them in mp3 format too. Thats perfectly fine I believe.

Its just not the same.Its hard to explain but its just not the same.

Why is it not the same? Just cos its virtual? I get the same with work I do. If your a plasterer and plaster a wall for someone (a neighbour), they usually expect a charge. You fix their computer and they look on it as your hobby or something. You are stealing music/movies. Its theft?

[macdermesser]

this russian site is a way around the whole legal issues .. you buy credit e.g. 20 euro and you can then download legally at around 70 cents per album.

http://www.allofmp3.com/

Money is paid by the company to the artists .. but with the currency exchange rate apparently makes it so cheap

Review

or just google them

[Gareth]

Quoting the CEO of the allofmp3.com
------------------------------------
TNW: Is your service legal from an international perspective, or just in Russia?
Mamotin: Because we have ROMS licenses, it would be more appropriate to address this question to ROMS.

Yes ROMS is the Russian Music Authority. They have issued this company a license. This does not give them any standing in Ireland. If they were legal in Ireland, they would be set up here. The reality as I have stated is they exposed a loophole in poor Russian media laws. The only authority you should worry about is Irish Authorities. If they made downloading child porn legal in Russia, it would still be illegal in Ireland. Just because a probably corrupt authority grants this company a licence certainly does not make them legal!!!!

Do as you wish but if you think artists are getting correct royalties from them, your having a laugh!!!!

[macdermesser]

Quoting the CEO of the allofmp3.com
------------------------------------
TNW: Is your service legal from an international perspective, or just in Russia?
Mamotin: Because we have ROMS licenses, it would be more appropriate to address this question to ROMS.

Yes ROMS is the Russian Music Authority. They have issued this company a license. This does not give them any standing in Ireland. If they were legal in Ireland, they would be set up here. The reality as I have stated is they exposed a loophole in poor Russian media laws. The only authority you should worry about is Irish Authorities. If they made downloading child porn legal in Russia, it would still be illegal in Ireland. Just because a probably corrupt authority grants this company a licence certainly does not make them legal!!!!

Do as you wish but if you think artists are getting correct royalties from them, your having a laugh!!!!

The company is an online company .. so not to sure what your point is about "setting up in Ireland". The point/example about porn is hardly relevant .. in any case .. it would hardly be legal on any country on earth.

In any case, I'm no legal expert, but there is enough discussion on the net about them if you google them

[Gareth]

The company is an online company .. so not to sure what your point is about "setting up in Ireland". The point/example about porn is hardly relevant .. in any case .. it would hardly be legal on any country on earth.

In any case, I'm no legal expert, but there is enough discussion on the net about them if you google them

Well to answer your question of the point of setting up in Ireland. Online companies are need to locate their servers somewhere and register their company somewhere. Just because the product is online does not means the company is online. The company needs to set up just the same as any other. Plus where ever the servers are located will be under that countires laws. Hence "Setting up in Ireland".

Show me a place on the web that says its 100% legal to use this in Ireland and stating why and then I'll believe it. Googling this company throws bakc for and againsts.

[anto1208]

the only bands that complain about it are the ones in it for the money , to quote south park if they were really artists they would just be delighted so many people wanted to listen to there songs ,.


this is one of the reasons i like pete doherthey so much ( i know most think he is a useless junkie ) but he gives away all his stuff on his website , you can down load a load of live stuff ,acoustic sets , and even live videos all for free ,

[macdermesser]

Well to answer your question of the point of setting up in Ireland. Online companies are need to locate their servers somewhere and register their company somewhere. Just because the product is online does not means the company is online. The company needs to set up just the same as any other. Plus where ever the servers are located will be under that countires laws. Hence "Setting up in Ireland".

Show me a place on the web that says its 100% legal to use this in Ireland and stating why and then I'll believe it. Googling this company throws bakc for and againsts.

As I said, I'm no legal expert so I cannot prove to you or show you a place on the web that says its 100% legal (or 68% .. is there a difference .. its either legal or illegal) to use this in Ireland.

And regarding online companies, I'm pretty sure they do not have to set up servers in Ireland to sell their products e.g. try typing Amazon.ie into your browser (although I think they have recently set up a distribution centre in Dublin). AFAIK their server is in Russia and are subject to Russian law, which currently deems the company legal... and therefore, under Irish law it would be the same as legally buying a CD in Moscow and bringing it home. Or maybe not.

As you said yourself, googling the company throws up a lot of pro and cons. I'm using them at the moment .. but after our little debate, I'm a bit unsure again

[EnDai]

Just get stuff from Swedish sites. It's legal for them to host it, and its legal for you to download it once you don't allow it to be uploaded from you. Everyone's a winner, baby!

[joeSoap]

Never liked Limewire myself, though I was huge into Napster when that first appeared years ago. Now however, torrenting is my saviour.

What is this 'torrenting'? How does it work...what sort of system do you need to operate it??